Open Post

During the beginning of this class, I was concerned that I might feel rather constricted by the discourse that the syllabus indicated we would engage in. As the course progressed, I began to realize, in light of the 1301 curriculum at Texas Tech, that the assignments and strategies for teaching first-year composition actually have more flexibility in them than I expected.  I discovered the value that, after producing a first draft of my article-length essay, creative writing, a craft that I hold dear to myself, can have within the composition classroom.  I have discovered that rhetoric might be best taught by having students first engage in writing as they have been taught to do prior to first-year composition; by having students engage in writing of their own choosing and that has less restrictions or expectations for a final product, I have discovered that it might be easier to teach students composition by illustrating to them that they already possess the necessary skills to communicate and to argue certain viewpoints.  I believe that teaching students from their own strengths and weaknesses greatly enhances all that they glean from the class, and I feel as if this is the best approach to teaching students rhetoric and how to translate their voices into different genres.

After critically engaging with a number of texts that discuss the theories and pedagogical practices of composition, I feel as if there is much more room for creative writing within the composition classroom.  I believe that it is imperative to first empower students by allowing them to realize the authority that they can give their words in mediums that are less critically or discursively motivated and then to illustrate to them how these skills can be applied within a variety of media.  This class has allowed me to understand the practicality of being able to recognize rhetorical situations, and I feel as if I am much better equipped to enter into the classroom for the first time.